Dawson Student and Professional Photographer
In the age of smart phones, everyone can instantly become a photographer. However, there are some Dawson students that are much more serious about this craft and are currently working as professional photographers in addition to their studies.
Arts and Culture student Aja Palmer focuses her photography in self-portraits, portraits of others, and also works with La Bible Urbaine to photograph concerts around Montreal.
“In a way, I have always taken pictures because my dad used to be a photographer but it started to become a big hobby about 5 years ago. I just enjoyed is a lot and I was really inspired by photographers I followed on Instagram and Flickr,” she says.
People are lucky to find their passion at such a young age. Aja however, has turned her passion into her own business.
Building a Business
As a full time student, it can be difficult to manage classes, all the work and studying that goes along with them. It is even more difficult when creating and managing your own business alongside the demands of student life. Aja has taken on the challenge of starting her business as a professional photographer. She doesn't simply take pictures in her free time. Its a time where she explores her creativity and her passion for the craft. There is also the need to connect with others in the field and sell yourself for your art.
Aja describes this as being “quite hard to get your name out there and to actually start your business as there is a lot of competition and it’s sometimes had to gain recognition on social media, but I think it’s important to focus on creating and connecting with other creators.”
Although there is hard work involved in maintaining her business, going out to book her own gigs and staying in contact with clients wishing to hire her, Aja is still humble: “My first paid job was a portrait shoot for a friend’s sister and her friend. I was kind of nervous and only half knew what I was doing but I was happy to be able to make money out of my passion.”
Influence of Social Media
“Social media has been critical in building my career. Although some of my clients have been friends, people I know from school, and sometimes my mom’s coworkers, a lot of people have discovered my work through Instagram ad have hired me as their photographer. It’s an easier way to
promote yourself and your work to customers,” explains Aja.
Social media, namely Instagram, enables Aja to share her image on a platform that everyone across the world is able to see. She also uses the app to connect with, not only photographers around the globe, but local Montreal photographers that she goes out to meet and collaborate with.
As Aja says, the online world has enabled her to get into contact with clients that she would have never met without the coming across her work online.
A Dawson Student
The demands of Cegep are something we all face and these do not go away for Aja. If anything, more work goes into managing everything. It may not be an easy job, but in owning her own business, Aja is capable of creating her own schedule, focusing on what is most important at different times.
The special thing about Dawson and the Arts and Culture profile is that there are many choices students can make. No matter what you're interested in, there are classes at Dawson that will give you the chance to explore it. Because of this, Aja has been able to choose classes about photography or media labs, as well as create photography projects in classes not specifically about photography.
Aja says that “school can often drain my creativity and use up too much of my time for me to focus on photography.” Despite this, her “program at Dawson has allowed me to really gain knowledge in the artistic world and I have been able to also learn technical skills such as Photoshop.”
Although her business is booming, even having booked her first wedding for this summer, Aja is still working on her studies: “Next year, I will be studying photography at Concordia which means my passion, work, and school will intertwine and it will be much easier for me,” says Aja. Once her last semester comes to an end in May, Aja will be taking on new challenges.
As a business owner and full time student, Aja urges everyone to go out and cultivate their passion. This may not mean turning their passion into a business in the way that she has, but to go out and enjoy something that brings them happiness.